Lake Geneva

So breaking news, this was my first ever SOLO trip. A friend of mine from Adidas said he was driving through Switzerland and the town of Lausanne on Lake Geneva has been of interest to me for many years! The main attraction? The Olympic Museum, Lausanne is home to the IOC and I just knew I wouldn’t forgive myself if I missed the chance to see this.

This was also my first experience of Air Bnb! I found a really great flat in the centre of the town and although there was a language barrier with my host, he was very hospitable and welcoming.

Day 1: Walking to the museum along the lakeside was amazing, truly vista views so it took me about half an hour to get there because I stopped to look at so many things. I spent 5 hours there! An incredibly well documented museum that goes from the first games in Greece through to the founding of the modern Olympic Games. An incredibly interactive museum that I HIGHLY recommend especially worth seeing all of the memorabilia like Muhammed Ali’s shoes, Torville & Deans’ Bolero outfits and Michael Phelps’ trunks.

Day 2: I used this whole day to explore the city, heads up- somehow Lausanne is ALL uphill. You’d think that if there’s an uphill then theres’ a downhill but I think my calf muscles will tell you different…

I was interested in going to the Sauvebelin tower the sits above the city and has an amazing 360 view. I set out confident of the route but found myself in a forest for about 2 hours before I came across human life who told me that the tower had been closed for renovations… not impressed but I suppose I got some exercise!

N.b. Switzerland is so expensive I couldn’t afford food or drink so I think I lost a bit of weight on my weekend here.

Day 3: After my skydiving in Prague I now figure, what could be worse? I’d seen pictures of people paragliding at Villeneuve (also on the lake) so I went ahead and booked! I took the train to Montreux which is a lovely town and where Queen had their recording studios so there is a nice little (free) museum about their work in the casino which I would recommend.

I was so nervous for paragliding but it turned out to be one of the best experiences I’ve had! We literally stepped off a rock and the sail took us away, gliding down the mountain for about 30minutes with the most incredible views, it was actually relaxing and serene.

So once I had landed both feet back on the ground I spent all of my money on one ice cream and went back to Montreux to meet my friend for the long drive home. The whole way we were complaining that we didn’t want to leave.